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Category: Homilies

  • The Gift of promise being fulfilled: A call to fulfill our commitment

    The Gift of promise being fulfilled: A call to fulfill our commitment

    December 18, 2020 – Friday, Third day of the Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121820.cfm)

    Homily

    Each of us might be waiting for something good to happen. Yet, we could have grown impatient because of waiting. But then, extend more our patience, God is preparing and it is coming. It really is. Just believe. But, why should we believe? Why risk in believing, in having faith in God? Well, because promises are made to be fulfilled.

    Do you believe in this? Contrary to popular saying that “promises are made to be broken,” which applies to those who are bitter in their life, promises are indeed made to be fulfilled. So, please don’t be bitter, be better rather.

    Promises are, certainly, made to be fulfilled. This what makes a promise, a promise. Using the philosophical language, “the very essence of a promise, is its fulfillment.” That is why, the very essence of the WORD is when it becomes FLESH. The very essence of what we speak and talk about, is when it becomes our action.

    The very person of Jesus, our Lord, is the fulfillment of God’s promise. This promise of God started from the very beginning found in the Book of Genesis. When man and woman was driven out from paradise, God promised to be with them and to stay always with them. As God chose the people to be his own, God also promised to send a Savior, a Redeemer, a Messiah who will be with God’s people. This is what has been proclaimed in the first reading today. The Book of Jeremiah tells us that God proclaims his promise to save his people and give them security.

    In fact, this points us to this “PROMISE OF GOD” that springs from the covenant made by God with humanity.  The prophets told the people of this promise, the laws and decrees of God point also to this promise. The historical events and all those people in the Bible have prepared for the promise to be fulfilled.

    So, what is this promise? Much better to ask, Who is this promise? He is the Emmanuel, the God who is with us. He is born from a virgin, the word that became flesh, he is JESUS, (whose names means “YAHWEH SAVES”.) JESUS, our Lord, is the very promise of the Father to us.

    However, the fulfillment of the promise was tainted by a scandal of unfaithfulness and of a promise seemed to be broken. The arrival of Jesus seemed to be scandalous. This was the steaming aura at that time in the little town of Nazareth. In the ears of the neighbors of Joseph, what happened to Mary was scandalous. Mary and Joseph were already engaged but within that period of engagement Mary got (preggy) pregnant. The people in their village knew that Joseph was not the father. Joseph himself was confident that Mary’s child in her womb was not his. Joseph knew that the Jewish law would find Mary guilty of adultery.  This was an act punishable by shame and death.

    As it happens in small villages, Mary must have been a subject of gossips and fake news. Mary was judged without further investigation. The eyes and fingers of the people around her must have pointed and branded her to be a shame. In their eyes, the promise of the engagement was broken.

    Joseph must have been in pain as well. He must have been confused and must have been very hurt. He must have felt betrayed. However, Joseph’s response to this was not out of anger or bitterness. In the heart of Joseph, he wanted to save Mary by divorcing her quietly. Joseph must have thought that Mary was in another relationship. To divorce her quietly will allow Mary to be engaged with the man who fathered the baby in her womb.

    This difficult situation in Joseph, and the belief that he was betrayed, became the way for God to reveal the divine plan to this gentle and thoughtful man. God must have been waiting for the proper time when to reveal to Joseph the divine plan. Thus, when everything was in its place and when Joseph was ready enough, an angel revealed to Joseph the mind of God.

    What Joseph realized in that deep dream was the fulfillment of what he was hoping for and the hope of all humanity, the joy of all. God’s presence made into flesh is that greatest joy of all, and the fulfillment of the promise because “Yahweh saves.”

    Joseph began to see the scandalous situation of Mary’s pregnancy through the eyes of faith rather than his fears and disappointment, through God’s love rather than his anger and hate. Joseph now fully realized that this was the fulfillment of God’s promise, calling him also to fulfill his commitment.

    From then on, Joseph saw and felt that what has been revealed to him was truly scandalous because God revealed Himself to him, because God has become man there in the womb of Mary just to be with us. It was scandalous because we thought that God is up there or out there in the heavens only, a place that no person can reach. But then Mary was preggy (pregnant). This blows our minds now, because through that unexpected pregnancy, God is telling us the He is intimately present with us. God is telling us that humanity can become pregnant with God.

    Joseph understood that Mary’s pregnancy is a statement of God’s faithfulness and commitment to us. God commits himself to be our God. God commits himself to choose us as His people. This is God’s assurance to us now that he is present and he lives in the midst of our lives, in the midst of our pain, of our failures, of our disappointments, hurts and fears in order to bring to us His mercy, love and friendship.

    What God is telling us now is this – that God chooses life and not death because God chooses to be born like us. God is telling us that he never gives up on us because His name is Jesus – the God who saves us. God is telling us that we are not alone in our difficulties because He is Emmanuel, the God who is with us who gives joy and hope.

    May this reminds us now, that as God fulfills His promise to be with us and to be for us, we too are called to fulfill our commitments in our work or profession, among our friends and family, in our communities or organizations. May our commitment then, bring us into that realization that every time we fulfill our commitment, we also share in fulfilling God’s promise to be with us for we become God’s presence today. Hinaut pa.

  • The Gift of our Family and healing of our Family History

    The Gift of our Family and healing of our Family History

    December 17, 2020 – Thursday, Third Day of Misa de Aguinaldo

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121720.cfm)

    Homily

    I come from a family of fishermen. For hundreds of years, my ancestors’ main occupation was fishing. Our family’s history revolved around the sea and the various fish we could find within the Island of Mactan. In fact, our family’s surname is related to fishing. I became aware of this when I found my Papa’s long list of names of our ancestry. Papa loved history and most especially the history of our family.

    Papa told me stories of our great-grand fathers and mothers who created significant impact in our small history. As I listened to those long and many stories of Papa, he too shared interesting and exciting stories of significant people in our history. Later, he was not hesitant anymore to share with us some disheartening, scandalous and painful stories in the family.

    Yet, what I found funniest in our family history was Papa’s claim that our family come from the lineage of the great Lapu-Lapu, the first hero in our archipelago and defeated Fernando de Magallanes.

    Nevertheless, though funny it is, our own small family history has a small part in the story of 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. Part of our family tradition is the devotion to the Sto. Niño as it is common among Cebuano families. We too have our own share of miracle stories with the Sto. Niño which made our Christian faith to grow.

    From this story of my own family, this also brings me into God’s invitation for us today, on this Second Day of our Misa de Aguinaldo. Thus, I would like to deepen today’s reflection on the Gift of our Family and the Healing of our Family History.

    Each of us, is also a product of our vast family history. It is not that we are doomed and chained by the past, but we are being enriched by a vast history. Our families have our own history of both joys and sorrows, failures and successes, of horrors and victories.

    Our family history tells us who we are and it is part of our identity. Hence, it is also very important that we become in touch with our own family history and see how God works within our story. Besides, knowing our family history, this will be an opportunity for us to allow God to heal our broken and painful past present in our family history.

    Let me bring you now on how God works within a human family and how God reveals the Divine Plan in the family history of the whole humanity. The first reading from the Book of Genesis tells us how Jacob called his sons and bestowed the blessing to Judah the fourth son. The blessing also contains the prophecy of the rise of a King, in the person of David, the very lineage of Jesus claimed in the Gospel of Matthew.

    This family of Jacob was not guiltless. The lineage had stories of repeated unfaithfulness and scandalous personalities. Jesus’ lineage is not perfect and not wholesome at all. In fact, Judah sold his own brother, Joseph for money. There was King David who raped Bathsheba and then later ordered to murder her husband. There was Rahab, who was a prostitute. There was King Ahaz who burned his own son alive as a human sacrifice. There was another King, Joash, who committed idolatry against Yahweh and murdered the people in the Temple area. And there was the once revered King Solomon who built the Temple pf God but later on, turned to be unfaithful to God by turning to the gods and goddesses of his many wives.

    In this kind of family history, is there any good news here, when, in fact, Jesus did not come from a “good” and “blameless” family?

    Despite the unfaithfulness and guilt within this family history, God never wavered His plan to make something good, wonderful and beautiful in this family. The Gospel of Matthew that has been proclaimed to us today, contained a long list of generations until the birth of Jesus.

    Matthew recorded the family tree of Jesus with 42 generations divided into three, that makes it 14. 14 is the equivalent of two 7. Seven is a perfect number in Jewish belief. And the repeated use of 7 means that God works in this human family in an absolutely perfect way. The family tree though not perfect but with traces of sins and unfaithfulness, God works within this human family to bring healing and life.

    The family tree of Jesus is God’s statement to us that God indeed journeyed with us, in all our humanity, in all our sins and unfaithfulness. Jesus, being born in a human family, tells us that God fully embraces our humanity. With our imperfection, God made it to be the very space for us to encounter him and to know him.

    This calls us now to own and recognize the gift of our family. Some of us must have been traumatized and carrying deep wounds because of what happened in our family, others could have been divided because of conflict over material possessions, many families are also struggling to live because of so much poverty. And with all of this, God invites us today, that as we recognize our sins and failures, God is also telling us to recognize how God unfolds blessings and graces in our human family.

    Let us also ask the Lord to grant healing to our wounded families, to bring healing to any pain and shame that are haunting us until now, healing to broken relationships, and freedom to our hearts and memories imprisoned by anger, hatred and indifference. Hinaut pa.

  • Recognizing our gifts and the gifts around us

    Recognizing our gifts and the gifts around us

    December 16, 2020 – Wednesday, First day of the Misa de Aguinaldo, National Youth Day

    Readings (Is 56:1-3a,6-8; Psalm 67:2-3,5,7-8; John 5:33-36)

    Homily

    The gifts during this season excite us. Despite this pandemic, the virus cannot prevent us to show our love and affection to people who are dear to us. Gift giving plays an important role in our Christmas celebrations. To receive a gift also reminds us of the greatest gift which we have received as Christians.

    When I was younger what truly excite me were the gifts that I will receive. I always long for that because of the feeling of satisfaction in receiving. Thus, during this season, I would always think of what I would like to receive. However, as I grew up and became more mature in my Christian faith, I gradually realized how childish my desire was. Though it is good, but to always think and long to receive something is indeed childish and a mere reflection of my selfish desire. I realized that Christmas is not just about mere receiving gifts but also recognizing my own gifts in order to be a gift to others.

    This realization brings me now into the message of this First Day of our Misa de Aguinaldo which is also the National Youth Day. This calls us together as a Church to recognize our gifts and the gifts around us especially the gift of the young.

    Allow me now to bring you all into a deeper reflection of God’s invitation for us today. Let us see the readings and discover the gift that God prepared for us.

    The Book of Prophet Isaiah tells us how the foreigners came to believe in God. The Hebrew people who welcomed them, mingled with them and made friends with them, helped them to encounter the One True God. The very presence of the Hebrews became an instrument to this foreigners to recognize God’s presence. God’s people became a gift to these foreigners leading them to worship God and give thanks to God.

    This tells us that such encounter was the space where those who did not believe in God came to believe. These non-believers must have seen and witnessed God’s presence through the life of those who believed in God. This reminds us now that when our presence becomes a gift to another, our presence becomes a blessing.

    This is what our Psalm expressed today. God blesses everyone because God created everything. However, God’s blessing will be more manifested when such blessing is consciously shared. Moreover, as the Psalm recognizes God’s authority over all the nations, even those who do not belong to the chosen people of God, they too were blessed. This is a confidence in God who gathers everyone, without exception. Gifts and blessing from God are also given to all, without exception.

    The Psalm reminds us that each of us is being gifted and blessed by the Lord. Yet, the gifts in us should not remain hidden and must not be kept concealed. The beauty of the gift is when it is being shared. 

    Our Gospel today tells us about this. John was a gift to his childless parents, but more than that, John was a gift also to people who went to him, to seek the light and to seek the truth. The very life of John was a gift.

    This is what Jesus recognized in the Gospel. John’s life and his presence was a testimony to the truth. He was a burning and true shining lamp for people to see and recognize the true light. John led people to Jesus. Indeed, John’s life was a gift to people around him.

    More than John the Baptist also, the works of Jesus, his miracles, the signs he performed, were gifts of God to the people that revealed Jesus, the greatest gift we have. Nevertheless, when we are not conscious of the gifts of God, within us and around us, then, we become like those authority figures and people who failed to recognize the Lord. They failed to recognize Jesus because of their indifference.

    Thus, on this day, we are called to recognize our individual gifts and the gifts around us. For us to be able to arrive in this awareness, I have three invitations which you can bring with you today.

    First. Stop comparing yourself to others. Looking at what others enjoy and desiring what they have, and pitying ourselves with what we do not have, is burying ourselves in jealousy. This brings us into bitterness and indifference to our own gifts. Begin rather, to recognize our own gifts and talents, and the many blessing that we have. With this kind of attitude, we become confident with ourselves.

    Second. Be grateful of the gifts of people around you. As we recognize our gifts, we will surely become appreciative of the gift of others. Thus, express your gratitude to your friends, to your family and loved ones and even strangers who have become a gift to you. Say thank you to them even when what was done and given was small. When we become grateful of the gifts of others, this makes us happier.

    Third. Be a gift. As the Hebrews led the foreigners to worship God, as John led people to the true light, and as the works of Jesus revealed who he really is, let our person and our presence be a gift to people around us. Let our words, our actions, our talents and resources, become a gift in our relationships. Having such consciousness will allow us to give what is best and what is special. To become a gift is to give from the heart. In this way, our life will become a testimony of God who has come as our greatest gift. Hinaut pa.

  • Reasons to Rejoice

    Reasons to Rejoice

    December 13, 2020 – Third Sunday of Advent: Gaudete Sunday

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121320.cfm)

    Homily

    A friend once shared to me how he found it difficult to enjoy life and to live life truly. He found it hard not to give in to despair and sadness. The deaths in his family, the broken relationship he recently have, the financial crisis and the depressive environment because of the anxiety and fear brought by the pandemic have caused so much stress. He might just give up if these will continue. Indeed, he found it very difficult to find reasons to be joyful. Listening to my friend, it challenged me also to dwell deeper on this essential aspect of life, to find reason to rejoice. There must be more than what I believe, reasons to rejoice and be thankful for.

    This is the invitation today as we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent. We are halfway towards Christmas and it is important that we become confident that there are indeed, reasons to be joyful in this life. Hence, let us discover our beautiful readings today and see how God invites us to find reasons to rejoice.

    In the Book of Prophet Isaiah, the prophet reminds the people of the reasons to rejoice. The people were back in Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon yet life back at home was still filled with injustice and difficulties. Returning home did not solve all their problems. They still found themselves at the brink of giving up. Thus, Isaiah proclaimed to the people, “a year of favor from the Lord.” This favor from the Lord invites the people to recognize the blessings of God even when life seemed not to be favorable. To arrive in this kind of consciousness with God requires the people to be more aware of God’s spirit dwelling in them. This kind of consciousness brought the prophet to a deeper realization and recognized that “God is the joy of my soul.” Thus, the prophet tells us now to also find in our heart that God indeed, is the joy of our soul.

    Such realization is an attitude that allows us to become more confident in God’s promise of salvation and freedom. That is why, the prophet also anticipated the joy and the blessing of God’s arrival. On that day, the Lord shall bring glad tidings to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, freedom to the captives and prisoners.

    Finding God as the joy of our soul is what has been proclaimed to us also in the Responsorial Psalm which was taken from the Gospel of Luke. The Magnificat of Mary tells us how she rejoices in God her savior. In this song, Mary recounted how good is the Lord and how God brought so much transformation in her life and in the lives of many. God brings blessings and graces to us with His presence. If we would only realize this and will always rest our confidence in God, we shall always rejoice as well even if what lies outside our life is not favorable. Mary reminds us now that God remembers his promise of mercy. God, indeed, remembers us and will never forget us.

    That is why, Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians also reminded them to rejoice always and in all circumstances give thanks. When our spirit is filled with gratitude, we look at things and look at life at the perspective of grace and blessing. Yet, when our spirit is filled with bitterness, then we look at the world and our life at the perspective of sin and curse. 

    For this reason, for us to keep our mind and heart filled with gratitude and at the perspective of grace and blessing, Paul reminds us today, to “pray without ceasing.” This is an invitation to always have the consciousness of God’s Spirit dwelling in us which will bring us into a deeper confidence that God is the joy of our soul. This was what Isaiah told us.

    In the same way, the concrete example given to us today who have become a person of joy and gratitude was John the Baptist. John who was filled with God’s Spirit even when he was still in the womb of her mother, was overflowing with joy. This must be the reason why John could not stop proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. As John’s response to what he felt, John became a witness. Because John experienced so much grace and so did became a grace to the people. Because he experienced the light of God, he too became a witness to that light.

    John could have claimed that he was the Messiah so that people will worship him. People were already looking up to him. Yet, he did not because the joy in John’s heart made him honest and truthful. Thus, a person who is indeed, filled with joy and grace of God would always point the source of such blessing. Becoming a witness of that grace and blessing is what makes us to rejoice truly in the Lord.

    Our invitations for today are these.

    First. Recognize your blessings even in the midst of your difficulties. There must be more reasons to rejoice than what we think and believe. As we recognize every blessing and grace, let God fill our heart with joy today.

    Second. Pray without ceasing that we may always become conscious of God’s Spirit dwelling in us. Never stop even if it becomes dry. Pray always that we find God always too.

    Third. Be a witness by becoming a joyful and generous giver to those who are in need of your presence, talents and resources. Joy is like corona virus, it is infectious. Rather than infecting others of our bitterness, anger and hatred, infect others with your joy, with your heart that is filled with God’s presence.

    Hinaut pa.

  • Sound Check. Mic-Test

    Sound Check. Mic-Test

    December 13, 2020 – Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121320.cfm)

    Homily

    Once in a big cathedral, as the priest is about to greet the people in the mass with the usual “the Lord be with you” (Ang Ginoo Maanaa kaninyo) to which the people were to respond: “And also with you,” (Maanaa usab kanimo) the people were not able to hear this because the wires in the microphone were defective. The priest then banged the microphone which fortunately made contact. But to his regret, while the mic regain contact, he accidentally shouted and broadcasted loudly: “there is something wrong with the microphone”. (Naay daut ang microphone) And worse, the people involuntarily replied: “And also with you.” (Maanaa usab Kanimo).

    Usually in the mass, we hear the normal greeting of the priest: The Lord be with you” (Ang Ginoo maanaa Kanimo). And then we usually reply, “and also with you” (Maanaa usab kanimo). But what does it mean? What does the Lord be with you mean?

    According to the scripture, the words, “the Lord be with you” is the first good news ever proclaimed to us. Since the annunciation of Maria, the birth of Jesus until His ministry, death and resurrection, these words and message have always been proclaimed and preached to us, and has been a recurring theme of the Good News of Jesus Christ. And even until now, the Spirit of God and the Church, has preached these to us again and anew – that the Lord is WITH you and all of us now.

    If the Lord is with us, how should we feel then? Our readings today call us to be Joyful and Thankful to God for He has blessed us with His presence and salvation in our lives. Isaiah rejoices over God’s grace bestowed not only on himself but on Us all, proclaiming: “My soul rejoices in my God”. St Paul exhorts that we should always rejoice and give thanks for such great blessing upon us.  John in our gospel today knows himself. He is not the Messiah himself. John is not the message or the Good New, but He is just the microphone & loudspeaker of the message. He is only the voice and just the precursor to prepare the way of the Lord. But he also aspires to be a worthy friend of the bridegroom. He is not the Groom but the joyful Best man or person for the Groom. This is also what John wishes for us – that We become the Best (worthy, righteous, and joyful) Person before God and others for the Christ, the Messiah, and become a Microphone/Loudspeaker of the message.

    We are now in the third Sunday of Advent. The whole Church calls this particular Sunday as “Gaudete Sunday”, the Sunday of Joy and Praise. We are encouraged to be always grateful of the Good News that the Lord is with and upon us.

    But are we really now joyful because of the Good News that the Lord is with us? Or are we, like what happened with the priest who said that mass, become accustomed and got used with the message that the Lord-is-with-us that we are not anymore happy and excited about it? And because we get used to it and have heard it before, we just automatically or mechanically respond without really meaning it: And also with you?” What then, is the difference if when we hear the Message, and we just respond, “OK, fine whatever.”? Or without interest responding “Amen”, whenever presented with “Body of Christ” during communion? Or just saying “So what?” when a special guest arrives in your home for a visit?

    If we have heard the good news that the Lord is with us, what should we do then? If we really recognize that the Lord is with us, it is but right and fitting that we should rejoice and be happy because a great grace has come upon us. And in our joy and gladness, we also need to preach and share this good news to all – that is we should actively witness, preach and proclaim this with all our words and actions. Like St. John the Baptist in our gospel, we who have heard and glad of the good news of salvation must also become the best man – like good microphone or sound system that proclaims, “the Lord is with us”. And in this season of advent, we must renew, prepare, and strengthen our faith, so that we may become worthy of His message.

    If the microphone is defective, we must also check if the speaker and receiver are also defective, for we might send a wrong message and get a wrong response. Advent then is Time for Sound Check & Mic Test – to ensure we are at our BEST condition to host our beloved Guest Jesus Christ.

    Christmastime proclaims to us the simple message: the Lord is with us. How about us? Are we with Him?

    May we Be with the Lord, as He has always been with Us. Amen.